Searches and interrogations

Vilnius
In November 1980 Vladas Noreika and Sinkevičius, both students at Vilnius Secondary School no. 72, were arrested and charged with shouting anti-Soviet slogans during the October holiday demonstrations and with desecrating the Soviet flag. Noreika's parents work in a factory, while the parents of Sinkevičius are instructors at Vilnius State University. The students were released after receiving suspended sentences. Their relatives let it slip that the prisoners were beaten with rubber canes at security police headquarters.

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At the beginning of February 1981 Security Police Chief Baltinas advised [Mrs.] Irena Skuodienė to guard her daughters against the influence of anti-Soviet persons.

The Chekist assured her that her husband, V. Skuodis, had received a fair trial according to the law and that foreign countries were deliberately distorting the facts. He also warned that if she met with foreign diplomats she was not to "distort" the facts about her husband's trial.

Kaunas
In February 1981 [Miss] Marytė Vėlyvytė, a Medical School student, was summoned by the Kaunas KGB. The interrogator was interested in the young people who attended a certain New Year's party.

During the interrogation Velyvytė was left alone in the office three times. After detecting an unusual odor, the young woman fell asleep. Afterward, she felt very tired. Because they were unable to intimidate the student at security police headquarters, the Chekists insisted to her parents that their daughter must receive treatment at a psychiatric hospital.

Kulautuva

On October 14, 1980, the foreign-language teacher [Miss] Felicija Kasputytė (now retired) was arrested in Kulautuva. A thorough search was made of her vacation room in Kulautuva and apartment in Kaunas, at 13-21 Zuvintas St. The security agents who conducted the search stated they were looking for underground publications and anti-Soviet literature. They confiscated the following: the manuscripts "Ligonės meditacijos" (A patient's meditations), "Žmogiškojo kilimo pakopos" (Degrees of Human perfection), "Asmenybės ugdymas" (Character development); the typewritten pamphlets "Amžinųjų būties problemų apmastymai" (Reflections on the eternal problems of existence), "Meilės ir sekso kolizijos" (Collision of love and sex), "Milašiaus mistika" (The Mysticism of Milosz), "Dienoraščio fragmentai" (Fragments of a diary), "Asmenybės problemos" (Character problems), etc. The prisoner was released after several days of interrogation.

Kasputytė is ill with heart disease. She was held under house arrest for three months.

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On June 18, 1977, Kasputytė was assailed in the Kulautuva forest by Valutkevičius, a police official. He and his confederates threatened to drive all her visitors away and to, sooner or later, liquidate her.

Kelmė
On December 24, 1980, [Miss] Regina Teresiūtė was summoned to the Prosecutor's Office of Kelmė Rayon to see Astaška, the interrogator for special cases.

He stated that Teresiūtė had been summoned to be warned because she was becoming more and more involved in criminal activities. In his opinion, she was collaborating with Fathers A. Svarinskas and J. Zdebskis, members of the Catholic Committee for the Defense of Believers' Rights. Interrogator Astaška expressed regret that the woman was being victimized by reactionary priests and offered to help her enroll in either the medical institute or the music school (Teresiūtė had attempted for several years to enroll in the music school).

She rejected his offer and demanded the return of the items confiscated from her during a search on September 12, 1980. The chief interrogator stressed that the items would not be returned because Teresiūtė was suspected of being one of the organizers of the 1980 procession to Šiluva. She was also being accused of organizing people to attend the trial of [Miss] G. J. Stanelytė, held in Kelme on December 16, 1980, for which she may yet be prosecuted.

Interrogator Astaška reproachfully asked why believers do not request permits for processions to Šiluva and also assured her that "next year a procession will not be permitted."

The interrogation lasted approximately one hour. Jurbarkas
On October 24, 1980, the apartment of Leksaitis, a resident of the village of Antkalniskiai, Jurbarkas Rayon, was searched for "stolen goods." Issue no. 21 of Aušra (Dawn) and a hunting rifle were confiscated. The search was conducted by employees of the Jurbarkas KGB.

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On December 16, 1980, at the knitting department of the Jurbarkas Universal Store, security agent Nina Okunova interrogated the department's salesgirl [Mrs.] Jadzė Locaitienė for a good half-hour. The security agent was interested in the salesgirl's views, the religious books she read, and where she got them. When Locaitienė explained that she received the books from a woman she did not know, Okunova tried to learn her name, address, etc. As she left, Okunova ordered Locaitienė to call the security police immediately if the woman in question got in touch with her again.